Conservatives are right: Colleges are hurting more than helping

A Wonkette piece proclaimed: “It’s Official: Republicans Really, Really Hate Book-Learnin’.”

Vice mocked conservatives, quipping: “In the face of everything that divides Americans today, there are still a few things that pretty much everyone can agree on. Dogs are good. Space is cool. Education is import — oh, wait, sorry.”

The Twittersphere piled on with more insults.

Perhaps these smug intellectuals should go back to school and brush up on their reading comprehension.

The survey didn’t ask whether higher education is important or if having a college degree is beneficial. Rather, the survey simply asked: “Are colleges and universities having a positive or negative effect on the way things are going in the country these days?”

Only 36 percent of Republicans surveyed said colleges have a positive effect. By contrast, 72 percent of Democrats said college had a positive impact and only 19 percent said it was negative.

While it’s true that Democrats tend to be more educated than Republicans and college makes people more liberal, this doesn’t appear to entirely explain the discrepancy. Consider: Republicans who never attended or dropped out of college (37 percent) were more likely to have a positive view of colleges than those who graduated (32 percent).

There may be another, completely justifiable reason why conservatives might think colleges are having a negative impact on America. Too many colleges are not delivering what they promise: an education and a job. And the consequences have been a disaster for America.

Instead of encouraging intellectual and personal growth by exposing students to new ideas and challenges, college campuses are increasingly becoming safe spaces where liberal groupthink silences contrarian ideas. In extreme cases, such intense tribalism can give rise to mob violence when students are confronted with politically-incorrect speech.

Inside Higher Ed reports: “Virtually every day Fox News, Breitbart and other conservative outlets run critical articles about free speech disputes on college campuses, typically with coverage focused on the perceived liberal orthodoxy and political correctness in higher education.”

Even liberal academics are growing concerned about the ivory tower’s increasingly illiberal idiocy. Former President Barack Obama, a law professor and Democrat, chided: “I’ve got to tell you, I don’t agree … that you when you become students at colleges, you have to be coddled and protected from different points of view.”

He’s not alone. About 1,000 professors representing a wide spectrum of political views have joined Heterodox Academy, an academic network established in 2015 which aims to broaden the diversity of opinions on campus. A 2015 Pew survey found 38 percent of college presidents say the U.S. higher education system is headed in the wrong direction.

In addition to not opening minds, colleges aren’t opening doors, either. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 70 percent of high school graduates enroll in college, but only 27 percent of existing or future jobs will require a college degree. As a result, according to the Federal Reserve, 45 percent of recent college graduates are underemployed and many are working minimum wage jobs.

Making matters worse, the average graduate owes $40,000 in debt, crippling the economy. MarketWatch explains: “Research indicates that the $1.2 trillion in student loan debt may be preventing Americans from making the kinds of big purchases that drive economic growth, like house and cars, and reaching other milestones, such as having the ability to save for retirement or move out of mom and dad’s basement.”

Given this, it’s no surprise that a 2015 Gallup poll of college graduates in the past decade found only 38 percent strongly agree that their higher education was worth the cost.

This buyer’s remorse doesn’t necessarily mean they didn’t enjoy attending college. Many just wish they did it differently — at a more affordable college or studying a more lucrative major. In the case of Republicans, it’s entirely possible they think that gaining more education is generally a good thing but also believe that colleges are currently going about educating the wrong way. They’re not mutually exclusive, and this may account for why Republicans who graduated college are more likely to be negative about colleges.

Similarly, I’ve published several columns about the negative effects the press is having on America. That doesn’t make me anti-journalism. On the contrary, journalism is my lifeblood: I practice it and teach it. Supporting the First Amendment doesn’t mean I can’t criticize the press.

Speaking of which, the Pew poll also found 85 percent of Republicans think the news media has a negative effect on the country. Unlike colleges, even a plurality of Democrats (46 percent) agree with them on this. Is it surprising given how so many journalists distort facts like this poll’s findings?

Mark Grabowski (@ProfGrabowski) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a lawyer and a journalism professor at Adelphi University in Garden City, N.Y.

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